


Building Anew

by roguefaerie (samidha)



Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Among the Cluster, Background Relationships, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Daniela Velasquez, Compersion, Extended Social Circle, F/F, Family, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Found Family, Holly Poly, Holly Poly 2018-19, Implied Voyeurism, It's Even More Queer, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Queerplatonic Elements, Social Links, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 10:03:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17384423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samidha/pseuds/roguefaerie
Summary: Dani tells Lito and Hernando about Juaquin, and more of her secrets. Together, they find a family.





	Building Anew

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zvi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zvi/gifts).



> Slight canon divergence. See end notes for why.

They’re in the kitchen and Lito is drinking--a lot. And quickly. He imagines for a moment how much he’ll drink around Dani now, or if he can ever see Dani again.

But as she looks at him, her eyes are shining and bright and he recognizes the look.

“Lito. There’s something I need to tell you. And I don’t mean about my trash boyfriend I can’t go home to. I mean it’s about me.”

Watching as if he’s guessed many of the moves to come in this chess game Lito’s been playing, Hernando’s eyebrows raise just enough and Lito catches his eye.

Oh. Oh no. No, no, no.

“Lito, this doesn’t scare me. This… this is a dream come true. I told you,” Dani says.

“Dani, it’s just that, I, ah…”

Hernando gestures just within the field of Lito’s vision, the slight move that he makes to tell Lito to breathe. Just breathe.

He does it even though he’s wearing the impassive expression that says whatever happens he’ll just deal with it, the one that makes Lito know that Hernando may get hurt in all this, and yet…. 

It is probably about to happen anyway.

“I like her,” Hernando says.

Hernando has always liked her.

*~*~*

They move from standing around in the kitchen to sitting on the couch and Dani says, “You didn’t ask me to finish.”

“It’s…” Lito starts, and Dani shakes her head.

“Lito. Trust me. Just a second. Let me get this out.”

Lito sighs and takes a swig of his not-a-drink with alcohol in it.

“I’ve always known… I’m...”

“Say it,” Hernando prompts, just the way he would for Lito, stepping in with his calm exterior and the brightness of his soul behind it that Lito loves so much.

“Lito, I’m bi,” Dani says. “And I’ve been trying to get away from him--Juaquin--because....”

“Oh, this is going to be good,” Hernando says.

“There’s a woman,” Dani says. “Outside of all this.”

“What?” Lito asks, still half in a daze with a slight buzz from what he dumped in his coffee.

“Outside of the--she isn’t mixed up with Juaquin.”

“Oh.”

“Lito, she’s magical. I’ve known her since I first started out. I… If I had another place to be… I haven’t wanted to be seeing Joaquin in so long, Lito. Years. She and I--we’ve--we’ve been dancing around this, waiting for it to all end. But you can’t, you can’t cross him.”

“But you did,” Liito says, anxiety rising in his voice. 

“Of course I did. By coming here, anyway. I love her no matter what happens between us and he scares the crap out of me.”

Lito blinks slowly.

“I needed to get away. I have for so long. And, Lito, he needs to know. I need him to know. This is real.”

Hernando says, “If she wants somewhere--if you need somewhere safe, you could bring her here. We….”

“We think we know how you feel,” Lito says.

Dani’s lower lip trembles just enough to be noticeable. “You’re both my dream come true,” she whispers.

*~*~*

Dani doesn’t bring anyone to their place immediately, though. Not until later.

She settles in first, learning the rhythm of the house, and they can feel it. Slowly it is becoming her home as well. 

And though she wonders what they see in this whole situation, she learns quickly. She sees the way that Hernando’s eyes light up when other people are enjoying themselves. It starts the first time that he cooks for them, when she’s over the moon about his food. But she knows it’s more than that. Hernando is more than that. She knows it and she’s absolutely certain that Lito wants to keep his partner’s eyes shining.

*~*~*

“We’d like you to stay,” Hernando says to her. “We’re family. We’re...becoming family.” Hernando’s statements are always more definitive than Lito’s. But he adds options. “If that’s what you would like from this.”

Lito walks into the room, smiling a smile that Daniela wonders about, slightly. She’s wondering if there’s insincerity there.

“It’s true,” he says, without any of his extra flare. He is looking her right in the eyes. “We can’t abandon you to Juaquin, Daniela, and we won’t.”

She’s watched the two of them for some time now and she asks point blank, “Is that because Hernando won’t let you? Or because this is what you want?”

“It’s because this is what I want.”

“What we both want,” Hernando says. “We just--we wouldn’t, and… We’re not afraid. If you--and your friend--want this then...” Almost imperceptibly, he gestures to Lito.

“We’re ready,” Lito says. “I’m ready. The clu--I’m ready.”

“He’s ready,” Hernando adds for emphasis. “I can feel it from across the room. Daniela, we want you to be alright. And if that means it blows this whole thing wide open--”

“I can really bring her here? Margarita?”

“That’s her,” Hernando says.

“Yes. That’s her.”

He smiles and visibly relaxes. “The way your face lights up.”

“We--ah--” Lito starts.

“You’re still nervous,” Daniela says. “Lito, she’s good, and--”

“It’s not that,” Lito says. “It’s just that, well, we would need to...discuss with…”

“Margarita.”

“Yes. The particulars. The boundaries.”

“Lito, you’re still my dream come true. And Hernando’s. And Hernando…”

“Yes?”

“Thank you. So much.”

Hernando smiles a knowing smile, one that says he and Dani have started to understand each other. 

“I’ll ask her,” Dani says.

That night they stay in the living room because it’s an excuse to sit together, found family, just the three of them and Lito’s old scenes. Hernando mimes along with the women who are actually in the movies.

Somehow, in a strange way, it seems that he almost enjoys it.

“How do you do it?” Daniela asks. “How did you do it all this time?”

“With patience,” Hernando says.

“And, believe it or not, communication,” Lito adds.

“You? Communicate?” Dani’s voice has a teasing tone.

“I am an actor.”

“He communicates with everything he does,” Hernando says. “And with words last. But it’s workable. I love him. And I remember...before. Behind my closet door.”

“Ay. Don’t we all,” Dani says.

“Yours just came down,” Lito muses.

“I told you, Lito. This family… I’ve needed you all my life. All of this… This is a conversation we needed to have.”

“Apparently it was,” Hernando says.

*~*~*

Dani gushes for weeks over the phone to Margarita about the house, the guys. The feeling of it all. Margarita is on a shoot on the other side of the country and will be for a few more months.

Finally they’re face to face when Margarita makes it home. By now, the men and Margarita both hear about each other regularly, and Lito even put two and two together about which Margarita Daniela has meant, someone from their shared world.

The night before she sees Margarita in person again it clicks and Lito and Hernando exchange stunned, amused looks that she loves seeing on their faces.

Now she’s sitting across from Margarita, coffee in hand.

“When I’ve seen you together….Lito’s always struck me as if he treats you right,” Margarita says to her, just as she’s mentioned more than once in those conversations. “And…”

“I told them, um… how you’ve always been the one who told me to get away from Juaquin. It was always...you.”

“You showed up on set with bruises, bad makeup. I saw it, Dani.”

“I did,” Dani murmurs. “But I’m safe now. It’s a safe place. We…”

Margarita pushes just slightly closer to Dani and says, “That’s what I’ve wanted for you. All this time.”

“Would you meet them?”

“Lito?”

“And Hernando. Would you...ever meet them? If I kept staying there? They...they’d like it, I think.”

“What are you asking?”

“I’ve missed you. And...whatever you’re comfortable with...I’m comfortable with.”

Margarita reaches out, brushing just under Dani’s eye, a place where the bruises often were.

“You really feel safe there? And with them?”

“I do. I’ve waited a long time to feel safe. I told myself....”

“What?”

“I told myself if I ever felt safe enough...I’d...see how you and I were doing, with each other.”

“Me too,” Margarita says. 

“Were you waiting? We were waiting, weren’t we?”

“You know I was. Don’t you?”

And Dani does know. “We were.”

She’s starting to feel what safety really means, and it’s because of the three gorgeous people in her life, and everything and everyone they bring with them.

“I’d go and meet them. We can talk acting. I’m looking forward to that. When--when we’re ready.”

“I want you to know it’s a safe place for you too. If you came home with me…”

“Yeah?”

“They’d give us our space. I know they would. They want theirs too.”

“We could make it a date,” Margarita says.

“You trust me?” Dani asks.

“I do.”

“So we’re doing this.”

Margarita smiles. “As long as the boundaries stay good. We’re doing this.”

*~*~*

When Margarita accepts Dani’s offer to come to the house, everyone can feel Dani’s exhale of relief. They make four way calls and talk to Margarita three times after that before any moves are made to bring her home. They talk about her career in the telenovelas Lito isn’t in, her influences in cinema and television, how she’ll duck and weave the limelight for a visit to his and Hernando’s place. And the boundaries everyone wants in place to protect her and Dani and what they have together. She realizes they’re serious--so very serious about welcoming her. 

Maybe it would be easier in a way if she was from somewhere completely outside their world, but the conversations she’s able to strike up with Lito and Dani put everyone at ease as well. As for Hernando, it’s clear on his face he can imagine the three actors running lines in his kitchen and it’s easy and free in his mind. 

It’s coming together and they feel how Dani loves them so much for it that it propels all of them for days. The residents of Lito’s suddenly happening, queer little house curl up in the living room against each other, basking a little in the warmth, comfort, and something else Lito has been learning to identify since finding the rest of his family. He doesn’t know the words people would use for it, but it’s there all the same.

*~*~*

Getting Margarita into Lito’s apartment actually turns out to be fairly simple. Maybe it has something to do with the contingency plans worked out four ways over the phone. They don’t mind anymore if there are rumors of her working on a project with him for the first time. Maybe they would even enjoy that buzz.

She loves the apartment at least as much as Dani did when she first took it all in. She visibly relaxes as they sit down to a simple meal prepared by Hernando for the formal, in-person introductions.

Margarita finishes Dani’s sentences--she lets herself show that side of her, and Dani blushes even though they all know what’s happening. She can’t stop beaming even though she is suddenly shy as she states the obvious: “We’ve known each other for a long time.”

They sneak meals together after that whenever they can, and soon the creative juices are flowing for all four of them. Hernando is finding new vigor in his lectures and Lito calls his agent and says that actually he’s always wanted to act with some new people.

It’s a shared flow that everyone around them can ultimately benefit from.

And Dani has been truthful. The boys give the two of them space. Daniela spends some nights at Margarita’s apartment when the two women need that space and time.

Months later, it happens. In his matter-of-fact way, Hernando says what he sees. “She’s family too. For you and us.”

And it’s that simple.

He’s seen it and it’s real.

Margarita and Dani beam at each other.

They’ve found a safe place after all. They’ve found something like home.

*~*~*

Lito and Margarita take small roles in each other’s work. Cameos and callbacks that make fans squeal. Their mutual respect only grows, and it’s a good cover for situations when the four of them might be seen out together. The boundaries don’t blur very much, other than Dani’s utter love of the chemistry she’s in the middle of.

If there are rumors among their casts, they don’t hear anything. And if there were, well, it might even be funny to them now.

They envelop themselves in each others’ acting worlds, and their related cast families as well. They are not just making a new life together in their own way but rebuilding a family that suits them, both inside and outside the relationships they are in, both at work and at play and in the pristine moments when they are the most in love.

If their arrangement is a little unorthodox to some, it’s hardly the wildest thing in the backstage world of telenovelas. 

*~*~*

When Lito’s little family shifts into Margarita’s (because no one really wants to extend a warm welcome to Dani’s family, including Dani), the paparazzi do take notice, but what really can be made of someone Margarita’s mother’s age visiting Lito’s apartment, in the end? Not too much.Mariela is warm, and it seems that she knows a thing or two about her daughter’s secrets. Secrets she keeps well, according to her daughter’s wishes.

None of them, neither the women nor Lito and Hernando want to ever talk about Joaquin and how something beyond the pale brought all of this out in the open. But the truth is that maybe the warmth they extend each other is to light a fire of family away from this person who leaves bruises on women whenever he wants.

After all that, the family they are growing is determined to give Daniela their very best. She sees it and gives them her best right back, creating a unity among them that helps everyone involved.

*~*~*

The nights are long, spent eating and playing games and talking, so much talking and processing and oh, Lito’s anxieties and Hernando’s calm replies to them…

Perhaps they have become a family out of necessity, but there is a love there that can only be found through this kind of struggle. Exactly the kind of struggle there is when the closet door is welded shut but there has to be a way to make a life anyway.

Maybe someone will send Joaquin to San Diego. 

Maybe he’ll disappear.

Maybe all of that can be done with love--from mothers and found family, late night talks and a whole hell of a lot of booze.

*~*~*

They go out dancing, not before they drop Margarita’s mother off at a friend’s house for cards and tequila. It’s the four of them. They concentrate so they can each learn each other’s moves, spinning for all they’re worth. Around them, the cluster comes into focus in Lito’s mind, and Nomi and Amanita, Will and Riley, and all the others hold on tightly to each other. They are moving in the moment, together.

Now that Lito knows the barest bit about who he is--because honestly, Hernando’s always read him like an open book that he doesn’t know is written in simple language--there’s not really a way to avoid this kind of entanglement, this kind of extension of everything.

Tonight, they are right here, exactly where they want to be. They know somehow that maybe if they dance far enough and fast enough the darkness in their past will only be a memory. They are rebuilding as a family.

**Author's Note:**

> While this story was formulating in my head, I saw this (tragically) deleted scene for the first time. So, I partially built the story for this particular ending. I hope you like it. If you don't like it, I'll owe you a more supernaturally-based story if you would like that instead.
> 
> Deleted scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ufH_0F1Yy4&t=82s


End file.
